Fare-receiver



S. G. HOUGHTON. FARE RECEIVER.

No. 540,665. Patented June 11,1895;

WWW/54w. Jfiww UNITED TATES STEPHEN C. HOUGHTON, OF sAN FRANCISCO,CALIFORNIA.

FARE-RECEIVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters 1 a No. 540,665, dated June11,1895.

I Application filed August 18, 1894. Serial No. 520,691. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it mayconaernn Be it known that I, STEPHEN O. HOUGHTON, acitizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the countyof San Francisco and State of California, haveinvented certain new anduseful Improvements in Fare-Receivers; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to an improved construction and arrangement ofboxes or receptacles for receiving coins, tickets, transfer checks, &c.,in railway cars, whether deposited'by passengers or' by the conductor incharge of the car. l

The object of my invention is to provide a receptacle of a moreconvenient and accessible character than those hithereto used.

In cars crowded with passengers, it is often difficult to reach anddeposit fares within the ordinary boxes, while more or less money, cartickets, &c., are lost in the process of transferring them from hand tohand through the car to the box.

My invention may be briefiy described as a box or boxes extendinglongitudinally along the car, provided with one or more slots or hoppersfor the deposit of fares, tickets, &c., and having a movable bottomwhich can be locked in place, so that there is no access to theinterior; but when unlocked and dropped will act as a chute down whichall the contents are allowed to slide toward one end, or from. which thecontents can be collected without difliculty. I

The details of my invention are fully set forth in the followingdescription, which should be read in connection with the accompanyingdrawing in which the figure is a perspective of the interior of astreet-railway car with my box in position and with the bottom of thebox made in two sections and dropped for the recovery of the contents.

The drawing shows my invention as applied to a street railway car of theordinary type, andArepresents my improved fare box, while B is aconventional representation of a fare register, supposed to be operatedby means of an electrical current supplied by a concealed battery in thecar.

The box A'extends longitudinally along the sengers.

side of the car and is preferably secured, as shown, near the base ofthe ventilating part of the car roof, where it is accessible, and yetdoes not interfere with the movements of pas- The box is provided withamovable bottom 0, shown in this case as made in two sections,in the formof trays; that is, with side pieces 1 to prevent the contents fromfalling out sidewise when the bottom is dropped. These bottom-trays arehinged or pivoted as shown at 2 to the box, and the free ends areprovided with any suitable kind of lock or catch by which they can besecured in place, and opened by authorized persons. In the box, and atconvenient intervals, are formed slots or hoppers 3, through which thefares, tickets, checks, &c., are dropped. These slots may be in thefront of the box or in the top. The number of them will depend upon thelength of the car. Whatever their numher and whether formed in the topor front of the box, one or more of them will always be accessible fromany part of the car, and the inconvenience of getting forward to asingle fare box, and the annoyance of passing up fares, are both doneaway with. When the bottom or bottoms are unlocked and their free endslowered to any extent, an inclined chute is formed, down which thecontents can slide to the person collecting, who can of course regulatethe angle or inclination of such chute; and can thus, if he desires,collect the contents at different points, from the bottom.

I am aware that fixed inclined closed chutes have been placedlongitudinally in railway cars for conducting coins to a receiving box.Such fixed chutes are however impracticable for paper tickets andtransfer checks which are too light to slide in such a chute by gravity.They are moreover unsightly and clumsy in appearance,-are more or lessin the way of passengers and are liable to clog. My box with its hingedbottom is entirely out of the way, and of course cannot clog because thehinged bottom does not becomea chute until it is lowered, at which timeit is open and accessible throughout its extent.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- [0 whereby when its freeend is lowered, said bottom may act as a chute, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have aftlxed my signature, in presence of twoWitnesses, this iltli day of August, 1894.

STEPHEN G. IIOUGHTON.

Witnesses:

L. W. SEELY, M. R. BRYAN.

